From The Grandstand

by Ron Rodda
October 24, 2007


Lincoln, CA ~ A return journey to Petaluma Speedway on Oct. 20th came about as they ran a $2500 to win, $250 to start winged 360 race. After a week of rain being predicted almost every day, relatively few drops visited the fairgrounds home of the 3/8. No water had been put on the track all week due to the forecast in an attempt to not lose the show in case there was substantial rain. Some watering just before packing proved to not do the job and it wasn't until past sunset that the moisture came back.

The weather guessing led to a most un-Petaluma type track for qualifying, starting 1 and ½ seconds slower than the mid-September Civil War show on the same clay and ending over 2 seconds in arrears. Early draws were the best option, but even then several fell victim to a slick surface and performed a loop within a lap.

Andy Gregg set quick time at 13.7 something, which is the most detail on that item available at Petaluma. The 34 car field ran a Civil War format mostly with invert six, take four heats being fairly interesting given that the track was still dry. The B main moved six to the finale with only 2 getting their time back to fill the 22 car field for the 35 lap season ending race at Petaluma.

 
Hot laps at Petaluma Fairgrounds Speedway being led by Jayme Barnes

With a track that now had some moisture along with a few ruts, the preferred line was on the bottom, making for a main that did not reach the excitement level of the September Civil War night. Kyle Hirst led two laps before Sean Becker took over exiting turn two to lead the rest of the way with ease.

Late race activity put fifth starting Shane Golobic into 2nd and Gregg took 3rd after a red and 4 yellows slowed the main. A large crowd was on hand on the typical cool Petaluma evening as again I was fooled by their arrival times. Unlike other tracks I frequent, Petaluma fans arrive later and while track packing showed few on the grounds, a solid crowd appeared when they were ready to enjoy the evening.

Getting her sprint car start on the Petaluma clay, sixteen year old Alissa Geving continued with her first season in a sprint. With 14 years of driving sprints in his resume, her father, Gary, serves as crew chief and, according to him, offers advice that Alissa often ignores. She does credit her father as being a huge part of her growth, but she likes to run the top despite the more conservative suggestions from dad.

Allisa Geving has four wins in her rookie season

Starting racing at the relatively old age of 12, she first raced winged outlaw karts at Red Bluff, Cycleland, and Lakeport in the box stock class. Winning 3 of the first 5 nights, she moved to 250s and eventually 500s, collecting 4 more wins as well as driver of the year honors for the 2005-6 All Star Series.

Her career changed direction when she received a certificate to a driving school last summer and her family bought the former Brian Azevedo operation. Her first race was this night's Last Sprint Car Race on October of last year. This first full year brought her an amazing four wins, two each at Petaluma and Antioch. A 6th in Petaluma points and 2nd at Antioch also earned her rookie of the year at both facilities.

The 16 year old Ursuline High School student carries a 4.3 GPA and is in her junior year. She noted that last month she earned her driving license despite losing a few points for taking corners too fast. Now, what does a driving examiner expect from a racer on those turns? Next year Alissa plans on running the full Civil War series as well as Petaluma point shows with some Fridays at Chico plus occasional Golden State shows included.

Their 2006 Maxim is powered by an engine built by dad and is sponsored by Matt Cordeiro Ent., A1A Performance Muffler, ALC Machine, Hose Doctor, pitstopusa.com, Kalembas Tire Center, Rossi Auto Body, and JW Web Design. Alissa's next race will be the Trophy Cup at the Tulare Thunderbowl.

Finishing 2nd this night with an excellent effort is another teenager and son of a former driver, Shane Golobic. Following in the footsteps of John, his father, Shane started in quarter midgets on asphalt before moving to dirt surfaces. His sprint car career just started its 2nd year as his first event was in August last year at Petaluma.


Shane Golobic has already shown his versatility

Shane has had a very impressive year with 3 wins coming from a variety of venues. He has a win at the very racy Lawrenceburg, IN track in nonwing sprints, a win at Petaluma with a wing over his helmet, and a pavement win at Ukiah in a midget. He is getting close to his dad's career win total in 14 months of turning left at speed.

Joining Golobic and Geving in the teenage division at the upcoming Trophy Cup is Elk Grove's Kyle Larson. I met this family when Kyle was six as we were both putting down blankets at Cottage Grove, OR across the aisle from each other. Mike and Janet Larson, Kyle, and Andrea were following the Speedweek series also and soon after Kyle was starting his racing career the way so many have, outlaw karts.

Kyle Larson, at 15, is the youngest of the Trophy Cup teenagers

After a very successful kart career and an eye opening effort in a midget at Manzanita, Kyle was chosen by the Vertullo racing team to drive their 83V winged sprint. Not racing this full year, the Elk Grove teenager still has two wins, one in the ultra-competitive Civil War series, and another at Petaluma. Larson has successfully raced in a 410 with the Golden State Challenge Series as well as the outlaws.

Additional teenage entrants in the Trophy Cup include Mason Moore, another outlaw kart graduate who has been very fast this year and has shown the ability to run up front in any series. Mariposa CA probably only is home to a pair of sprint car drivers and Josh Keheley is the much younger of the duo. Josh, along with fellow Mariposa driver, Andy Ferris, will join Moore and the others at the Trophy Cup on November 16th and 17th. Keheley has not been able to race as much as the other teenage entrants as limited funds puts the team on a very selective schedule.

With additional entrants since last including the list, the newest slate of Trophy Cup entrants follows.

Driver Car Owner

Brent Kaeding 69
Ricky Wondergem 91 Dale Wondergem
Roger Crockett 7N Roger Henderson
Shane Stewart 1 Screaming Eagle Motorsports
Mike Learn 2
Craig Stidham 3
Tyler Spath KR14 Jacob Spath
Jim Richardson 8
Pat Harvey 15
Willie Croft 29
Randy Hannagan 6X Walt Branco
Brett Miller 1X Bill Bell
Mason Moore 22
Brett Rollag 27 Rod Rollag
------- --- Paul Silva Motorsports
Mike Stallings 83M
James Sweeney 20J
Andy Ferris 4J
Dan Simpson 4S
Bud Kaeding 20 Werbach Motorsports
Bill Cornwell 3 Jeff Garrison
Jason Meyers 14 Elite Racing
Ronnie Day 1 Elite Racing
Alissa Geving 3X Gary Geving
Evan Suggs 33E
Burt Foland 4
Josh Keheley 29K Kevin Keheley
Jason Solwold 83 Rod Tiner
Roberto Kirby 10X
Korey Lovell 71L Korey Lovell Racing, Inc.
Paul McMahan 121 Joe Von Schriltz
Garrett Ishii 71G
Chad Compton 69C Michael Compton
Kyle Larson 83V David Vertullo
Shane Golobic 57
Jason Statler 00
Andy Gregg 24M
Jonathan Allard 0
Greg DeCaires 24
Jimmy Trulli 33
Mark Barroso 78
Jesse Hockett 5H
Chris Masters 98
Mark Hall 54
Justin Johnson 25
Tayler Malsam 26
Travis Rutz 26R
Steve Kilcup 18
Craig Smith 72
Kurt Nelson 72W
Peter Breshears 10X
Dustin Baxter 25B
Myles Bishop 7